Carbon capture and storage at the end of a lost decade

Summary Following the landmark 2015 United Nations Paris Agreement, a growing number of countries are committing to the transition to net-zero emissions. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been consistently heralded to directly address emissions from the energy and industrial sectors and forms a significant component of plans to reach net-zero. However, despite the critical importance of the technology and substantial research and development to date, CCS deployment has been slow. This review examines deployment efforts over the last decade. We reveal that facility deployment must increase dramatically from current levels, and much work remains to maximize storage of CO2 in vast subsurface reserves. Using current rates of deployment, CO2 storage capacity by 2050 is projected to be around 700 million tons per year, just 10% of what is required. Meeting the net-zero targets via CCS ambitions seems unlikely unless worldwide coordinated efforts and rapid changes in policy take place.